The cities of Huntsville and Madison, and the Madison County Commission are combining for a nearly $2.8 million project that will ease congestion on a stretch of Slaughter Road.

That’s because the stretch of the road between Old Madison Pike and U.S. 72 is partly in Huntsville, partly in Madison and partly in an unincorporated area of Madison County that is seeing a large amount of residential and commercial development, Madison County Commissioner Steve Haraway said during a forum recently hosted by Huntsville City Council President John Meredith.

Haraway said he and Meredith have had discussions over the past few years about what to do about the issues involving the road, which is in both of their districts. They also met with Madison City Councilwoman Ranae Bartlett to discuss what to do about the road.

“We decided we had to get an engineering firm to do an analysis to determine what the issues were with that road,” Haraway said. “After they went and did the analysis, we determined that the road was going to have to be five-laned at some point.”

Haraway said the three government entities received an estimate of between $35 million and $40 million for such a project.

“At that time, we did not have the funding in place to do a project of that size,” he said. “What we decided to do was have the engineering firm identify the problem areas on that road that runs north and south on the east side of my district.”

The engineering firm found Castle Drive was the intersection that had the highest number of accidents along the road. Eastview Drive was the intersection with the most backup.

“We got together and came up with a way to fund improvements at Castle Drive, and that section will be widened from just south of (U.S.) 72 to just past Carter Drive,” Haraway said.

At Eastview, a right turn lane will be added to the southbound lane, and a left turn lane will be added on the northbound lane.

On the northbound lane, the current turn lane at Eastview can only accommodate about three cars, Haraway said. When a fourth car attempts to enter, it backs up into the through lane, causing significant traffic delays, he said.

Right-of-way acquisition has already been completed. Haraway said the utility agencies are in the process of relocating the utility infrastructure. Construction is expected to start in the fall, with completion expected in the fall of 2026.

Grayson Carter & Son Contracting of Athens was awarded the contract for the project, which will also include a new traffic signal.

“The three jurisdictions, the city of Huntsville, the city of Madison and Madison County are all equal partners in this,” Meredith said. “We’re splitting it financially. … I think the folks who utilize Slaughter Road once we make these improvements are going to be happy that their three different entities of government were able to solve a problem that has been needed to be solved for quite a while.”

“The good part about the way we’re going to do it is that we’re going to pay for it and not have to borrow money through a state agency or a federal agency,” Haraway added. “That will keep the process moving much quicker.”